Bronies, Unite!

While we’re walking in silence, it’s starting to get dark now. We decide to take an alternate route, which is more lit up than the actual way to her house, but it brings us to the back of it. We’re just walking along in silence, passing fancy houses on the way, some people playing football on the field and screaming wildly. We take a right turn down a street called ‘Acabus Lane’, it sounds very familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. We carry on walking down the street, until we come to a small group of people. We take no notice and try to walk past, but one of them sticks his arm out, stopping us from passing.

“Well, well, well… What do we have here? The fagot ‘Brony’ couple, don’t think we’re leaving you out of this, this time Bitch!”

I quickly push Lucy behind me, taking the blunt force of his fist to my cheek; I stand my ground and look away for a few seconds, before looking back. “Leave us alone.” Is all I can say.

“Or else what?”

“Or else something bad is going to happen.” I stare right into his eyes, trying to force fear into him, but it doesn’t work in the slightest. Quite the opposite actually, all three of them start to burst out laughing.

I then suddenly recognize the laughs as J-Z and Drogh coming from behind him, they step closer, snatching Lucy from behind me, and walking behind Brock.

“Let her go!” I try to push my way past Brock, but he holds me firmly in position, and with his right hand he goes into hit back pocket, pulling out a knife. My eyes widen, and I back off about half a meter.

“Now, you’re gonna go home and prance to your mummy and not say a word about this, you got that you piece of shit?!”

“This is where you’re wrong, you stupid fuck…” He cocks his head towards me in astonishment; I suddenly feel a burning sensation rush through my blood. I clench my fists by my side as he walks close to me, holding the knife to my neck and I remember my training. I wait until he brings his head close to mine, before he can speak; I slap the knife away from him. He still manages to keep a hold of it, but I grab him by the throat, lifting him into the air slightly. His friends look shocked, and start to close in behind me, leaving Lucy on the floor. “YOU NEVER HURT A WOMAN!” I slam my fist into his cheek, making him slightly dazed, and then throw him to the side of me, but he manages to keep his balance. His friends come towards me, J-Z throwing the first punch. “BIG FUCKING MISTAKE!” I grab his fist, keeping his momentum, I turn around and crouch down, flipping him over my back, then twisting his arm until he yelps in pain and I hear a slight cracking sound.

I forgot about Drogh who grabs me in a bear hug, and lifts me into the air; Brock walks over to me, and slams his fist into my kidney, forcing the air out of my body. I quickly kick Drogh in his nuts, making him drop me on the floor face first, while he grabs his tender regions. I quickly stand up, and brisk it off, ignoring the pain in my side. I slam my right foot into Brock's side, but be catches me, and hits my shin with his elbow, sending a shock through my body; luckily I jump up in the air, and kick him in the neck with my other foot, sending him and me both to the floor.

I slowly stand up, to see J-Z running towards me. I duck and tackle his legs, making him flip over me, but before he can land, I turn around and grab his right foot. Mustering all my strength up and spinning him around to face the other way, sending him flying into Drogh. They both look dazed or unconscious, so I turn my gaze to Brock, only to be greeted by a fist in my face. Sending me hurdling back, he charges into me, slamming another punch into my other kidney. He tries again, but I catch it this time, reversing it into a hold. I slam his face into the concrete floor, I hear Lucy scream behind me, telling me I’ll kill him if I don’t stop, but I carry on. I lift his head up, and open his jaw and placing it on the curb. Then slamming my boot on the back of his neck and pushing down, hard, but not hard enough to break his jaw.

I suddenly feel weak, I grab my side and look at my hand, noticing blood gushing everywhere, Brock stands up quickly and runs away, luckily he moved, because I slump to the floor. First my knees, and then followed by my head, which makes a loud cracking sound as I hit the curb. I feel my vision become impaired, I think my glasses must of broken, then I feel someone rolling me over, it’s Lucy. Her face turns to shock as she looks at my side, I try to lift my head up but she holds me in place.

“You can’t see it!” She yells.

“Let me see it!” I force my head up and look down, just to notice a knife sticking out of my kidney, and a pool of blood forming around me. My head slumps back down to the curb, “You were right…” My vision fails me, and I feel my head fall back fully now, and my body almost fully let go. The last thing I hear is Lucy phoning an ambulance, screaming that she needs help, while still crying.

*****

I open my eyes; I’m laying on the floor of a mossy brick road, with wildlife all around me, weeds shooting through the brick itself. I rub my eyes, noticing I am not wearing my glasses, I stand up and start to look around for them, but then it occurs to me that I don’t seem to need them and I have perfect vision. I wave my hand in front of my eyes as a sort of test, all it shows is that I can see it, I am so stupid.

I rub my eyes again, taking in my surroundings, there appears to be a lot of trees where I am and it’s night time, but the ground is lit up with some sort of floor lanterns. I pick one up and hold it in front of me, and start following the path along into the woods.

Usually, I would feel very scared right now, waking up in a really weird place that’s almost like a jungle, but for some reason, I feel very peaceful. While I am walking, I try to collect my thoughts but it doesn’t seem to work. I can’t remember anything about what’s happened, but I keep following the path, after a couple turns I come to a small opening in the forest. It’s flat with a small cottage in the middle, it looks to be abandoned.

I slowly edge towards it, and the door opens slowly. Inside I see a well lit room, with a table and food on it; my instincts take over and force me through the door, which closes behind me. I jump back and see no one, and nothing. I turn around slowly, fearing what might be there, and I see a shadowy figure in the room. In the far right corner of the room, but I don’t feel afraid, I feel warmth, and happiness. I feel it wants me to sit down, so I pull out a chair and sit.

“Hello, Mark.” The figure says.

“Who-or should I say what, are you?”

“Well, that’s not important, but what is important is that you realize where you are. Can you remember how you got here, Mark?”

“No, why?”

“Good.”

“How is that good?”

“Don’t worry, please, eat. You must be hungry.”

“I think I’m fine, why don’t you come out of the shadows?”

“Well, if you insist.”

The figure slowly steps out of the shadow; he wears a long black coat, with black boots on, black jeans and a red shirt on, along with a black tie. His face is hard to describe, because he doesn’t seem to have a face, just the indents of where the features should be. He takes his hat off and holds it to his chest, taking a bow in front of me.

At first I am taken by his features and I presume I am scared, but I try not to show it. “H-How come you’re bowing, to me of all people?”

“There is no need to be afraid, Mark.”

“How did you- Wait, how do you even know my name? And answer my question please.”

“Well, I am something you Humans’ call ‘Death’, ‘The Reaper’, ‘The Grim Reaper’, so on and so forth. And I can tell that you have just become even more scared, as you have just puzzled together as to where you are, now please, eat.”

“Wow, why do you want me to eat?”

“Call it a ‘last meal’, if you wish.”

“Wait, so I’m… I’m dead?”

“Well, you almost are, unless they save you, of course.”

“I can’t die!”

“We all die, Mark, you are called Mark in this life, are you not?”

“Y-Hang on, what do you mean in this life?”

“Well, Mark, we have met before, you see. Hence why you fear me a lot less than you think you should. That little itch in the back of your mind that you feel sometimes, like the feeling of Déjà vu, it’s sort of like that. That constant itch, but you can’t itch it, unless you’re here, in this cottage.”

“Wait, what are you trying to say?”

“Well, you have lived a total of 4,999 lives so far Mark. Reincarnation etc, and when this life is over, you can sort of ‘choose’ a life you wish to live. It can be anything of course, but it will end one day, and then you will have to live another 5,000 lives to be able to do this again, do you understand?”

“Yes, bu- Whoa…”

“Ah, do you feel that itch now, Mark? Do you feel it slowly covering your entire body?”

“What the heck is going on?!” I scream out, starting to thrash around, standing up and knocking over the chair.

“Calm down, Mark. It’s just your old lives coming back to you, come here.”

The man walks towards me and touches my forehead. Immediately, I feel calmed down, and stop thrashing about.

“Wow… I’ve lived 4,999 lives! I can remember being a girl, what?”

“Yes, you have been female, and male, even transsexual.”

“Oh, that’s just nasty.”

“Well, it’s your lives, not mine.”

“So, what happens now?”

“Well, if all goes to plan, you will be able to pick another life, unless they save you, of course, now please, eat.”

“How long does this usually take?”

“Eat, and I will tell you.”

“Ugh, fine. Why are you so obsessed with me eating something?”

I take a seat and put some salad on my plate, followed by some chicken that was in the middle of the table.

“Well, because the food will balance you out, preparing you for your new life.”

“I see…” I take a bite out of the chicken leg and slowly chew it, taking in all of the flavor. “Wow…” I take another bite, filling my mouth with the chicken, “This is amazing!”

“I thought you would like it, at least in this life, anyway.”

“Can I ask you something?” I set the chicken bone down on my plate for a second.

“Go ahead; you were always a curious one, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I chuckle a bit. “Why don’t you have a face?”

He seems quite shocked at the question, even though he has no facial features, I can tell he is. “Well, death has no face.”

“Wait, why can’t you have a face?”

“It’s just the way it works- I think it’s your time, Mark.”

I feel a shudder behind me, I turn around to see a door with a blank title on it form before my very eyes. It looks to be an oak door, bright brown with those wooden swirls on it that you get in trees, I think it’s meant to tell you how old it is. The door suddenly opens and all there is a bright white light. Death walks me to the door and pats me on the shoulder, telling me its okay. I step forward to the door, putting my arm in first, it feels funny. Like a slight electrical shock working its way up my arm, but the feeling of it being covered in water, it’s almost making me giggle, but it feels warm, and beckoning me to go in. I put my right leg in and try to find some sort of ground; I turn to look at Death, who is starting to look transparent now. He gives me a nod, and I turn to face the white light again. I push my head in and feel the door close behind me and I walk through the light, it feels so warm and delightful, so inviting.

“AGGHH!” I scream, sitting up in a bed, wearing some sort of apron like thing, and a sort of mask on my mouth. I quickly look around, I see a machine beeping, and some wires connected to my arm. I rip them out which hurts a lot, forcing a scream from my mouth, “FUCK!” I start to hold my arm, squeezing it tightly, “That hurt like a bitch!” I turn around to see a nurse standing there with a clip board in her hand, staring at me in disbelief. She rushes around the corner, I quickly follow behind her, looking at my hands and feeling my face on the way there, realizing I am wearing my glasses again, and that I must be the old me.

I peak my head around the corner, noticing the doctor that I spoke to before is stood there talking to the nurse. He sees me spying on him, and turns his head to face me. He looks astounded by his reaction, and starts to hastily walk towards me, I turn around and sit on the bed, waiting for him, when he comes around the corner, he eyes me up curiously, checking my heart beat etc. After another few simple tests, he looks up at me, and wraps his stethoscope around his neck.

“Wow… He’s perfectly fine.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well Mark, to put it bluntly, you were stabbed and you lost over two quarts of blood, and you had many transfusions. You literally died for a couple minutes, and we had to call your death time. Your uhm, friend went home crying not too long ago, as well.”

“Was it Lucy?!”

“The girl who brought you in, I believe so, brown hair, green eyes?”

“Yeah, that’s her!”

“Yes, she left after we said you ‘died’, can we run some more tests on you, please? It could help us a great deal.”

“Not now, I have to go find Lucy, who knows what she could end up doing!?” I stand up and start to head out of the hospital, before I hear the doctor calling me back. “What?” I ask, trying to hurry along.

“You forgot your clothes.”

I look down next to the bed and notice my shoes and my clothes, I grab them and hurry out of the hospital, simultaneously getting dressed, hopping along. After a few minutes, I am out of the hospital and fully clothed.

I rush down the road towards her house, on the way I notice J-Z and Drogh standing next to a lamp post, they see me but don’t react, things might finally be looking up for me. I speed past them swerving traffic as I run down the road instead of the path, taking right turns and left turns. After a couple of minutes of non-stop running, I arrive at her house. I knock on the door furiously, but no one seems to be home. I try the handle on the door, it’s unlocked, and I rush upstairs to see Lucy on her bed with her wrists slashed and her lying down, with a picture of me and her on her chest, covered in blood.

As I walk inside, a tear comes to my eye, followed by many, many more. Her eyes are closed, but she looks so peaceful, I look around to see if she left a note. I don’t see one; I just sit next to her on her bed, staring at her dead body.

I pick the picture up, and a white parchment falls from behind it, I bend over and pick it up, it reads:

I am sorry for what I have done, but it has to happen. I can’t live one day without Mark with me, I just can’t. He was the only reason I stayed on this planet. I love him, and I never even got the chance to say it to him, but I will now. I’m going to go see him, mum and dad, I’m going to go see him, I love you all, and I am sorry for the pain I may cause, but just know he is my life.